Fractals of the Mists - simplified guide

For a detailed guide, please see wiki's Fractals of the Mists page. This guide is meant to simplify understanding of certain aspects of Fractals that can be confusing or unapparent.


1. AGONY RESISTANCE (wiki page link)
You need agony resistance for each tier of Fractals in order to nullify the effects of the Agony condition. Note that if you have slightly less than the ideal amount you may still be able to survive the effects of Agony, but will take some damage from it.

Fractal Level	Ideal Agony Resistance
1-19	0
20	8
30	26
40	43
50	61
60	79
70	97
80	115
90	132
100	150

2. AGONY INFUSIONS (wiki page link)
There are two types of infusion slot on high level (usually ascended) gear. I like to refer to these as the blue and green slots, in reference to what the slot looks like on the item's stats panel after applying the most typical agony infusions to it.
(A) Offensive/Defensive/Utility slot - These most commonly take a versatile simple infusion, which can be bought from the main entrance area in Fractals for 75 Fractal Relics. This can then be upgraded to a higher version as well.  All equipment with agony resistance slots have at least one slot of this type. Note that one particularly easy way to get an agony slot of this type is by creating an exotic level crafter's backpack.
(B) Agony Infusion slot - These take the agony infusions you will commonly get as drops in Fractals. Note that the agony infusions can be combined using Artificing (crafting level 100 required) to create higher levels of agony resistance. Only infused ascended rings and backpieces have this slot, as their second infusion slot. Rings can be further attuned to hold an additional slot of this type.

3. REWARD LEVELS (specific reward chance research)
The rewards you get are based on either the selected Fractal Difficulty Scale, or your Personal Reward Level, whichever is lower. The level of your personal reward will increase by 1 each time a fractal difficulty scale is completed at or above your current reward level. You can see your personal reward level upon entering the Fractals portal in Lion's Arch, and your reward level will be displayed in the upper right corner of the screen while within any Fractal instances. You can collect rewards separately for each reward tier once a day, provided you have the required personal reward level for each tier.
You will always be rewarded with Fractal Relics and a Pristine Fractal Relic for completing any level of Fractals, as well as varying amounts of Karma. The chart below lists the additional rewards possible from doing the different daily fractals within each different reward tier.  

Fractal Level	Daily Reward
1-25	Fractal Initiate's Chest
26-50	Fractal Adept's Chest
51-75	Fractal Expert's Chest
76-100	Fractal Master's Chest

4. FRACTAL INSTANCES (wiki page link)
Below is a list of which individual fractals you can get for each instance, and what sorts of gameplay elements are involved in them.

Fractal Instance	Important Build Elements
Aquatic Ruins	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Swampland	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Uncategorized	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Urban Battlegrounds	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Molten Furnace	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Snowblind	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Cliffside	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Underground Facility	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Aetherblade	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Thaumanova Reactor	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Volcanic	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Captain Mai Trin	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Molten Brothers	Damage Defense Support Control Stability
Solid Ocean	Damage Defense Support Control Stability